cotter



(No Modl.)

G.A.0oTTER/. METAL BRACKET.

No. 557,111.- I Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

Hill

UNITED STATES y PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. COTTER, OF VATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR` TO RANDOLPH da CLOIVES, OF SAME PLACE.

M ETAL BRACKET.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 557,111, dated March 31, 1896.

Application filed October 1 5 1 8 94.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHAELEs A. COTTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal Brackets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to produce a sheet-metal bracket adapted for general use, which shall be made wholly from one piece of metal and which shall be so constructed as to enable it to be blanked out and completed by simple and inexpensive operations.

With this end in view I have devised the novel bracket 0f which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, numbers being used to designate the several parts.

Figure l is a side elevation of my novel bracket complete; Fig. 2, a front elevation; Fig. 3, a plan view of the end of the strip of metal after a blank has been cut oif g and Fig. 4 indicates the different steps in the operation of making the completed bracket.

l denotes the horizontal arm, 2 the vertical arm,- and 3 the brace. The two arms are provided with screw-holes 4 to receive screws for attaching the bracket in place and screws for attaching a shelf or slab to the bracket. The

brace is a tongue of metal blanked out from the center of the strip, one end of the tongue being left attached, as at 5 in Fig. 4. As the metal from which each bracket is formed is severed from the strip, the end of the strip is left suitably shaped to form the end of thel next bracket, as at 6 in Fig. 3. The next op- Serial No. 525,856. (No model.)

eration strikes out and cuts off the tongue from which the brace is formed and also severs the metal for one bracket from the strip. Another operation bends the tongue from which the brace is formed to the required angle, bends the other end of the brace to the proper angle for attachment in place, as at 7, and also twists or corrugates the metal of the brace, so as to impart thereto a highly-ornamental appearance and also to give the greatest possible amount of strength for the metal used. In the present instance I have shown the brace as strengthened and ornament-ed by twisting'alternate portions thereof at right angles to each other. Another operation bends the two arms of the bracket at right angles to each other, the point of bending the blank and the point of bending the end of the brace being indicated by dotted lines, as at S in Fig. 4. The other end .of the brace is attached to one of the arms in any suitable manner, as by a screw 9.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- A bracket formed of a single piece of sheet metal and consisting of a strip having a continuous slot extending nearly from one end to the other and bent to form vertical and horizontal arms, and a brace in front of said slot, said brace being integral with the strip at one end and permanently connected thereto at the other end, whereby said brace serves to prevent movement of the arms of the strip toward or from each other.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES A. COTTER.

Witnesses:

C. GRAHAM BEACH, T. McSrEDDoN I-IADLEY. 

